


Your AI Holds the Answers

by AliuIce0814



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, but where did they stick loki?, clint can catch food in his mouth, jarvis is tony's baby, post chitauri stress disorder, shakespeare in the park with thor, shawarma is a good thing, steve is overprotective, tony stark is socially awkward, tony wants bruce to be his bff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-02
Updated: 2012-06-02
Packaged: 2017-11-06 16:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/420880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliuIce0814/pseuds/AliuIce0814
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sure, he's the one who suggested it, but Tony's more interested in finding out how falling from space didn't kill him than in chowing down on shawarma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your AI Holds the Answers

What people didn’t understand about Tony’s suit was that even if it lost power completely, even if Tony…lost power completely (the other word was way too close to contemplate), the AI within would survive. In a way, Jarvis was Tony’s baby, imbued with all of his creator’s wit and intelligence (though even Jarvis’ sense of humor couldn’t surpass Tony’s in awesomeness). Tony would be damned if he let his best invention die just because he did. Only he and Jarvis knew the secret to shutting Jarvis down permanently. Tony would never abuse that privilege. Jarvis would go when he wanted to go and not before.

That wasn’t the point right now, though. The point, Tony thought as he sat, mask-less, inside a shawarma joint, was that Jarvis had kept running even when Tony hadn’t. The last thing Tony remembered before waking up in the rubble of Manhattan was the Chitauri ship exploding, sending orange light through the million pinpricks of stars. He’d fallen, Tony knew that much. He’d fallen from space and landed safely (well, sort of) back on earth. Sure, Thor had fallen to Earth a while back, but Thor was a demi-god, okay? Mortals usually didn’t survive those kinds of falls, not even genius billionaire playboy philanthropists like Tony Stark.

Someone or something had broken his fall. Tony might have been out of it at the time, but he knew one person who hadn’t been. He knew someone with the answers. All he had to do was get to his suit.

Steve frowned when Tony stood up from the table. “Where are you going?”

“Outside. To check on my suit. Consult with Jarvis. Is that not okay? I ate all my food. I did my duty to the starving children in Africa.” Tony was vomiting words again, which was not okay, but he was tired and Cap made him nervous. “Shawarma’s great. Yeah. I just need to…” Hell, at this point he might as well tell the truth. Cap wouldn’t know the difference. Technological illiteracy and all. “…check in with Jarvis. My AI? See how he’s doing?”

Steve blinked. Hard. Several times. “Are you sure you’re okay, Tony?”

“Yes!” Tony snapped. Steve's expression closed off—not Tony’s intention at all. He backtracked. “I’m fine. See? Totally fine. I’m just worried about Jarvis.” More truth, oddly enough. Tony always worried about Jarvis. “That fall can’t have been good for him, either.” Okay, not true. It would take more than a fall to affect Jarvis.

When Steve scowled at Tony, Bruce looked up from his shawarma nervously. Tony tried not to feel too ashamed of himself. “Hey,” he said, finally calm enough to control what came out of his mouth. “I’ll be right outside. Right there, in front of the door, where you can keep an eye on me. Is that okay?” He didn’t really need permission, but he might as well humor Cap.

Finally, Steve sighed. “Fine. Just be careful.”

Oh, that sounded way too frightened for Tony to be okay with. He vaguely remembered Dad’s war stories from the old press articles—how many of his soldier friends had died? Cap’s mutual friends, probably. For once, Tony restrained the snark. “You got it, Cap.”

Walking was—kind of an ordeal. It didn’t take long for Tony to be glad he was just going outside the door. His body was doing weird things now that it was out of shock. He’d had a few hangovers worse than this, but not many. Tony collapsed outside the door and curled his shaking legs beneath him. This looked sort of feminine, but his legs wouldn’t go anywhere else. At least he wasn’t nauseous. At least he could think straight.

Tony pulled the suit toward him with a sigh. Mangled again. If flying weren’t so fun, he’d scrap it, except then he couldn’t be one of Earth’s greatest superheroes and he secretly liked playing for this team. Quickly, he pulled out a circuit board and a video screen and hooked them up with a few wires. “Jarvis, you there?”

“Sir, since I do not currently have full access to your vital signs, I must ask: Are you all right?”

“Um, yeah, sure, fine. A little sore, but you know, that’s better than being dead.”

“Certainly, sir.”

Tony grinned just a little before he had to be serious again. “So, on the subject of that fall, Jarvis, do you have the video feed saved?”

“I do indeed, sir.”

“Would you mind pulling that up for me?”

For once, Jarvis hesitated. “Would you prefer for me to relay you the course of events, sir?”

“No, I’d prefer you played the video feed.”

“Are you certain it will not trigger anything?”

 _Trigger what?_ Tony nearly demanded before he realized he didn’t have the right. Damn PTSD. “As long as there aren’t any caves or deserts involved, I should be fine. Play it, Jarvis.”

Tony could imagine Jarvis’ disapproving expression. “As you wish, sir.”

For a moment, the video screen stayed black. Suddenly, millions of stars filled the screen. If it weren’t for the bulky Chitauri ship marring the picture, Tony would have paused on the awesome image. Then the ship exploded, orange flames shooting everywhere as the shock wave propelled Jarvis and Tony backward. The pair hung in space; then, as a function on the side of the screen warned Jarvis that Mr. Stark’s power had failed, they began to fall.

Stars blurred into white lines. Though Tony had obviously survived the experience, as he watched the rapidly closing gap between Earth and space, he wondered how he could hope to make it through before it sealed shut. Tony and Jarvis made it by an inch. They fell past clouds (cumulonimbus, courtesy of Thor’s lightning) and then the very tops of skyscrapers. Tony swallowed and clenched his fists, intensely glad all at once that he hadn’t been awake for this part. They were almost at street level—Jesus!—

—and then SLAM! Something green, huge, and powerful broke their fall.

As soon as he jumped down to the street, the Hulk dropped Tony and Jarvis with a roar. Steve skidded to his knees and ripped off Tony’s mask. Jarvis’ controls flickered and then switched to a video feed near the head of his amour. Steve’s face fell as he reached out a hand towards Tony’s chest. The Tony watching the video spread a protective hand over the blue glow in his chest, painfully cognizant of the fact that it had gone out.

Off to the side, the Hulk shifted his weight. In his disbelieving expression, Tony caught a sudden glimpse of Bruce. _The “Other Guy,” huh? He looks a lot like you._ Then the Hulk’s expression hardened. He shook his head in frustration…and roared. The sound shook the whole street, but the Hulk only focused on Tony’s inert form. When Tony didn’t move, the Hulk reared up and roared again. Tony remembered that sound, pained and frightened and _pissed off_. He’d woken up to it, yelled at the sound of it and at the spark in his chest as the arc reactor sprang back to life.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Okay, Jarvis. That’s good.”

“Would you like me to save that file in Dr. Banner’s database?”

Tony laughed, startled, because there was his Jarvis, too smart for his own good. “Go for it. Make it the first thing I find when I look him up. I’ll come collect the suit in a bit, all right? We shouldn’t be here much longer. I just need to talk to someone.”

“You mean thank someone,” Jarvis corrected, and okay, he must have picked that up from Pepper. “Certainly, sir.”

With that, Tony left the suit in Jarvis’ competent care (anybody who so much as thought of stealing it would get the electric shock of their life) and limped back inside. When Steve eyed him worriedly, Tony grinned and meant it. “I’m doing fine. Do you like shawarma?” he asked casually as he draped himself across a chair.

“I do!” Clint volunteered. Natasha flicked a piece of sandwich at him; he caught it in his mouth with unerring accuracy. “I think Thor does, too.”

“Verily,” Thor agreed around a mouthful of shawarma. Tony made a valiant attempt not to lose his shit. Instead of looking at the demi-god, because that was guaranteed to be a disaster, Tony glanced along the table to where Bruce polished off his shawarma. Maybe Tony’s grin wobbled around the edges before it broadened. “Hey, Big Guy, are you still hungry?”

Bruce jumped at this form of address and eyed Tony warily. He hesitated for a full minute before he admitted, “Yeah.”

“Well, here.” Tony headed for the counter, punching Bruce’s shoulder as he passed. “You’ve earned it. Hey, can I get some more for my buddy here?”

When the man behind the counter handed Tony another sandwich, Tony took the time to scribble a note on Bruce’s napkin. He passed the plate to Bruce with a nervous grin before curling up in his chair again. Bruce picked up the shawarma and frowned slightly. Underneath the table, Tony clenched his fists. Okay, so maybe writing, _Thanks for catching me. P.S. Move into the tower permanently? The labs are awesome_ was really grade school of him. Maybe Bruce didn’t remember catching him. Maybe he preferred Calcutta to New York. Maybe he preferred Calcutta to Tony. Tony should have just asked out loud, later, or not at all. Probably not at all.

This was the problem with human interaction. Normal people didn’t just ask someone they’d known for less than a week to move into their skyscrapers. It just wasn’t done. If only everyone thought the same way Tony did!

This was the problem with Tony communicating with anyone, ever, actually. Either he over thought it and vomited words or didn’t think at all and spewed even more.

Tony contemplated designing a floor that could swallow him up whenever he felt embarrassed.

At the other end of the table, Bruce blinked. Hard. Several times. Slowly, he pulled off his glasses. Then he looked up at Tony and smiled. “You’re welcome, and yeah, that sounds great.”

Bruce was open and earnest, and okay, Tony didn’t need to design a new floor anymore. Tony grinned back. One ready to move in, four more left to convince. “We’re good?” he had to ask.

Bruce’s smile widened. “Yeah,” he said, digging in to his shawarma. “We’re great.”

Steve glanced between the two of them, brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”

Tony frowned, trying to think of a way of explaining this without actually going into detail. Inspiration hit him quickly. In his best Humphrey Bogart voice, he said, “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Instantly, Steve’s eyes lit up. “Yeah,” he agreed, looking around the table at their happy team of freaks. “Yeah, Rick, I think it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you didn't recognize the Casablanca quote, then by all means go rent the movie. It came out in 1942, so Steve definitely would have seen it. Humphrey Bogart is sexy, and the movie is just all-over amazing, especially when you consider the historical background and the fact that Hollywood had about ten actors at the time.  
> I'm not a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. I don't know how an AI would work. If you do, then by all means, tell me.  
> Tony is fun to write.


End file.
